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Something pretty incredible is happening with the Japanese PC version of Tomb Raider. The game is "officially" coming out on the April 25th here in Japan, after being released earlier last month in the US and EU... and in Japan for Steam (only, I think).

Thing is, the Steam PC version of the game disposed, at launch, of Japanese voices and subtitles, despite being priced at a lower price point than the physical release: 50$ against what amounts to 76$, according to today's exchange rate (which is exceptionally bad for the yen). It was a pretty nice, and a weird move...

So what did Square-Enix do? They patched the Steam version some time ago to take out the Japanese language support and just announced that this Japanese option would be offered as DLC for 30 dollars.

How fucked up is this? I know how terrible Japan is with games prices and how PC doesn't matter much here outside of MMOs, but still, that's plain robbery. How can they get away with removing freaking language support some time after release to sell it as a 30$ DLC?

Okay, let me explain how this fuck up probably happened. Please bear with me, because it's going to sound really stupid, and I'm not defending Square Enix here, only explaining the nature of the fuck up.

- Tomb Raider comes out in Japan on April 25 2013, at the price of 8000yen (80 USD).

- The Japanese release includes voices in English or Japanese, and Japanese text. This differs it from the version sold in US and Europe where the voice options are only in English.

- Somehow it appears the PC Tomb Raider release on Steam was available for purchase in Japan at the US/Europe release price of 50 USD when it was released last month.

- Additionally it appears that someone fucked up massively and included all the language content meant for the Japanese release along with the package.

- So for a period of time Japanese fans were able to buy Tomb Raider on Steam for 50 bucks, and enjoy Japanese language support, a whole month before the release in Japan.

- Someone found out, panicked, and removed the language content support so Japanese consumers would no longer be able to buy a fully functional Japanese version of Tomb Raider at almost half the price and a month before it is released in Japan.

- Now that the Japanese launch is finally arriving, they are offering the option for anyone who used the previous "exploit" to top up the 30 dollars of difference to regain access to the Japanese language options.

From Square Enix's perspective, what they were doing was closing a reverse import regional loophole, and now they are offering an olive branch to fans who used that exploit so they don't have to sit on a useless 50 buck English-only Tomb Raider. From the perspective of everyone else, Square Enix is scamming everyone.

Tomb Raider "Japanese Language Pack" is a downloadable content that can be enjoyed audio / subtitle Japanese the "Tomb Raider" was purchased in Europe and the United States version of Steam.

Tomb Raider "Japanese Language Pack"
$ 30 Price: delivery

&#8251; will not work by itself this downloadable content. Body "Tomb Raider" Western version is required to get played on audio / subtitle Japanese.

In addition, those who purchased the "Japanese Language Pack" for one week (Thursday), and the map "Shanty Town" Tomb Raider multiplayer add-on May 2 (Thu) - 25th April to celebrate the launch will receive a set of "HITMAN ABSOLUTION Weapon Pack2" weapon for multiplayer (three arms package appeared to HITMAN ABSOLUTION of "JAGD P22G" "M590 12ga" "STG 58 Elite" is now set). Please take this opportunity to ask.

In addition, the Windows version of the package SQUARE ENIX E-Store can be purchased at."